


The Many Different Uses of a Homemade Popsicle-Stick Lamp

by CookieDoughMe



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Gen, Nathan's Lamps, The Rev., and The Rev's nose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 10:16:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19316128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieDoughMe/pseuds/CookieDoughMe
Summary: The Rev. encounters a popsicle-stick lamp in rather closer quarters than he might have liked.Inspired by the comments onan earlier ficin the popsicle-stick lampcollection:)





	The Many Different Uses of a Homemade Popsicle-Stick Lamp

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GreyHaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyHaven/gifts), [paintedwolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedwolf/gifts).



This year, the fair that the Haven junior school held every summer was going to include a popsicle-stick lamp competition. Janet was definitely in favour of this, she reminded herself firmly as she parked in the school car park and looked over her shoulder to her two kids in the back seat. She was well aware that both of them were looking forward to today much more than she was, but that had at least left them less likely to argue with each other on the short drive here. She looked in the mirror - her hair was all over the place and she looked exhausted, but she didn't have time to do anything about either of those things now.

Yes, she told herself firmly as she got out and went to open the trunk, a lamp-making competition for the kids was absolutely a good idea; the fair had been needing something new and interesting added to it for a few years now, and this had all the makings of a tradition that could both delight students and puzzle tourists for many years to come.

She looked down at the various boxes and bags in the trunk and thought about how to get all of them and the kids across to the other side of the school grounds in the - she checked her watch - four minutes remaining until she was officially late to help with the preparations. Making popsicle-stick lamps for the Chief of Police to judge, she insisted to no one in particular, would encourage the kids to do something different and it would encourage interaction with Haven PD, which was good for community cohesion and encouraging the children to trust the police and grow up to be responsible, law abiding citizens. These were the very arguments that she herself had made to the PTA meeting where the idea had been discussed and she certainly, she reminded herself as she picked up the box with Daniel's lamp in it, was not taking them back now.

She put the box back down and went to get the kids out of the back seat first. Daniel was in third grade and sensible enough now that he could be trusted not to run off while she wasn't looking. He would have to carry the box with his lamp in it, she explained as she handed to it him, and then looped a couple of the other bags over her arm as she went to get his little sister from the other side of the car.

That only left Sam's token effort (produced with much assistance by her father) to be entered into the kindergarten category. She stood by the trunk, holding Sam and looked down at the remaining lamp; it was pretty small, as popsicle-stick lamps went, and Sam was pretty strong for her age. Janet handed it to her, explaining that she really should try not to drop it, because it would be difficult for it to be a very good lamp if it smashed into pieces on the floor. Janet picked up the bag of refreshments that she had promised to bring, closed the now-empty trunk and locked the car.

"OK Daniel, I think that's everything, let's go and find a place for your lamp," she said. Holding his lamp carefully, Daniel beamed up at her and started to lead the way to the school hall, but they had hardly taken two steps before she felt something give on her shoulder and the broken bag clattered to the ground, spilling cookies and soda and plastic cups across the concrete.

Janet would later feel very impressed at herself that she refrained from swearing at this particular moment, but perhaps she was distracted in any case because as she turned around to see what had happened, someone walked out from the next car at the exact same moment that Sam decided to express her amusement at the broken bag by swinging her lamp in an elegant arc which perfectly intersected with the path of - Janet turned around again in surprise - Edmund Driscoll.

Even as a proud and doting parent, Janet was happy to admit that Sam's lamp was somewhat random. It had a higher number of corners that your average lamp might typically need, and from the look on the Rev's face one of them had just hit him on the nose.

"Oh my goodness!" said Janet. "Are you …?" she started to address the Rev, but Sam, apparently emboldened by her initial success was swinging the lamp again, if anything more enthusiastically than before. "Sam, no, stop it," she said, grabbing hold of her daughter's arm. "Be careful or you might break your lamp," she added, not realising until later that perhaps the more appropriate thing to say would have been to express concern for the Rev's face. Even if she had never liked him or the way he had spoken about her cousin when she suddenly found herself accidentally breaking the laws of physics now and then.

The Rev glared at her for a moment, as if daring her to apologise, and when she didn't he just turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving her standing in the middle of a gradually expanding circle of refreshments, as bottles of soda slowly rolled across the concrete. 

She in turn glared at his retreating form and, with somewhat more conviction than she had managed before, reminded herself that yes, popsicle-stick lamps in fact had all kinds of different uses and were definitely a Haven tradition worth supporting.


End file.
